Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?
by i.datt
Summary: AU. SasuSaku. Oh, waves of time seem to wash away the scenes of our crimes. For you, this never ends.
1. little sunspots

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

I'm an idiot. I know. But I had to. The objective is to clear it out.

NEW STORY.

**Title:** Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?  
**Genre:** Angst/Romance/Hurt/Comfort  
**Rating:** T  
**Summary:** [AU. SasuSaku.] Oh, waves of time seem to wash away the scenes of our crimes. For you, this never ends.

Chapter One.

* * *

**_;_**

**_L  
_****_i  
_****_t  
_****_t  
_****_l  
_****_e_**

**_S  
_****_u  
_****_n  
_****_s  
_****_p  
_****_o  
_****_t  
_****_s_**

**_;_**

_

* * *

_

_there's a moment in time  
__and it's stuck in my mind  
__way back, when we were just kids..._

* * *

耐久性

* * *

It all started in late spring, when the sky was just clearing up from the season's rain and flowers _-- her flowers --_ were beginning to bloom all across the school grounds. It was warm, almost sickeningly so: Shorts and no sleeves were abundant in the morning.

She was the only one in dark blue jeans and a yellow sweatshirt, sitting wistfully in the shade of a tree _-- her kind of tree --_ alone as she watched her friends tan themselves on a nearby bench, not too far from my own. She was biting her lip, and I didn't like the look in her eyes.

I tore my eyes away from her as the blonde idiot _-- best friend --_ called my name, thoughtlessly chucking a football at my head.

I caught it with ease, glancing at her _-- green eyes, pink hair --_ again. "What do you want, urusatonkachi?"

"Well a good morning to you too, bastard," he huffed, impatient, boyish, crossing his arms. "Football, anyone? Lee's already said he's in, and you know Neji, he joined almost as soon as Lee. Suigestu's coming, and he said he's game. So get off your sorry ass and come play with us!"

Without giving it a moment's thought, I shook my head. "Tsk. I don't think so."

He glared at me. "What the hell are you gonna do just sitting here? Get a nice brown tan like your sorority sisters, asshole?"

"Shut up," I shot back, not eager for an argument this early in the day.

Naruto shrugged. "Suit yourself," he muttered, turning away and finally _-- finally -- _leaving me in peace. With the idiot off my case, I slid my gaze back onto her. Over the years, I'd learned that she'd always be one of the first to change into shorts when the weather turned nice.

_(Her kind of weather.)_

But no.

I could tell that she was uncomfortable staying still in the shade. My eyes narrowed as she tugged on her collar, beads of sweat on her neck. She raised her arms above her head, stretching, and I wanted to dismiss, reject this feeling that something was wrong.

But then she did something that confirmed, rationalized, it.

She flinched even before her slender arms were all the way above her head, and hastily brought them back down, too quickly, far, far too quickly. I wasn't surprised when she used her _-- uncanny, unnatural --_ sixth sense to feel my gaze on her; she turned her head to look at me and waved _-- fake, fake, fake! --_ cheerfully. I saw her face fall, wince, as she assessed my comfortable attire - some old baggy shorts and a white t-shirt.

I smirked at her to cover my curiosity, seeing her _-- fake, fake, FAKE --_ smile back, and looked away.

Right then, I decided to keep an eye on her.

_(Only for her._

_Because I know her.)_

I let myself be swept into the school as the bell rang.

* * *

耐久性

* * *

_can you stay strong?  
__can you go on?  
__kristy, are you doing okay?_

**_;;the offspring;;_**


	2. nuclear dust

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Title:** Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?  
**Genre:** Angst/Romance/Hurt/Comfort  
**Rating:** T  
**Summary:** [AU. SasuSaku.] Oh, waves of time seem to wash away the scenes of our crimes. For you, this never ends.

Chapter Two.

* * *

**.:**

**N**

**u**

**c**

**l**

**e**

**a**

**r**

**D**

**u**

**s**

**t**

**:.**

* * *

_'cause your eyes told a tale  
__of an act of betrayal  
__i knew  
__that somebody did..._

* * *

耐久性

* * *

I knew she was hiding something.

The more she tried to hide it, the more I knew that something _--anything, everything--_ was wrong.

_(Because I just knew that someone had done her wrong and I would do anything to prevent it._

_I watch her.)_

I didn't show my concern _--my blatant curiosity--_ to anyone. I was discreet. I caught whispers of forgotten conversations with the familiar sound of her name blended in like part of a song, so softly that the people closest to her couldn't hear it.

_(But I did; I always listened for her.)_

She was unusually quiet, and somehow her silence was easier to understand. Her smiles _--fake, fake, fake!--_ were forced and painful and her laughter _--soft, gentle, familiar--_ had next to vanished. I haven't heard it in days.

Her trend of wearing heavy clothes continued. She always had sleeves, always had legs to her jeans while everyone else was clad in some of the loosest, shortest and airiest fabrics possible. She was always covered. This gave me a vague sense that she was hiding _--from something, from someone, from_ _me_.

Sometimes, inevitably, she caught me looking, so obviously looking, and something inside her was frightened by this aspect. I saw then something I shouldn't have in her huge green eyes: All the _--masked, disguised--_ hurt and _--empty, disintegrating--_ hope and _all of a sudden_ I was this warm caring person and I don't know why.

What happened to normal _(smirks, shrugs, grunts, ignorance)_?

Inside, I yelled myself hoarse.

_(Because that all flew out the window three days ago and there's nothing I could possibly have done about it.)_

The bell rings to start class. I sat behind her, and today, of all days, she didn't notice. The idiot in the jumpsuit _(at least some things haven't changed)_ began to rant and I felt everyone, including her, begin to ignore him. It was easy, and practical, so I did the same. My hands found their usual place folded just in front of my face.

She was writing something. I tried to read it, but she was just drawing lines, up and down, over and over, parallel to fill in the white space of the notebook.

The man's rant was nearing a close, and he dismisses class. I tried to see her face, but the bell rang and she was gone before I could even stand up. I glanced at Ino _--exfangirl, her best friend--_ and her face was closed off and blank, abnormal for her gossiping soul.

I wanted to go up and confront her, but then she would have been wary and suspicious of my curiosity. She was worried enough about Sakura as it was.

_(Because I could tell she knew what was wrong.)_

I turned a corner in the hallway, caught up in my ongoing investigation of the last person I want to be harmed by anyone, ever _(because she was there for me)_, and nearly ran her over. She recoiled from the impact a little too harshly _--a little too sensitively--_ and her bag slipped from her hands, spilling everything on the tile floor.

"Sorry," she apologized, and I only smirked to cover my suspicions and took the time to kneel down and help regather her things.

"Sasuke-kun," she said when we stood, smiling her _--fake, aggravating--_ smile. I forced myself not to narrow my eyes because everything in her face was concealed and full of lies. However, I felt the intensity in my gaze as I nodded.

"Sakura." For the first time in my entire life, I didn't know what to say.

She pulled at her sleeves, slipping her thumbs through cut holes in the _--dark, uncharacteristic--_ cloth covering her arms. I could tell she was nervous. There was a few seconds of silence.

"See you," she nearly whispered, and she walked past me into the crowd of students.

Again, I berated myself, wondering why the hell I was so concerned about her and how she had done this to the one stoic Uchiha Sasuke.

The sun was out today, and the rays outlined her body _--small, frail--_ as she found her way down the windowed corridor away from me.

Her normal posture was sturdy, feet shoulder-width apart and back straight, but it wasn't at all as I watched when no one else did; her legs and feet were close together, moving slowly just in front of each other, shuffling. Her torso was slumped, like she was closing in on herself _--for protection, for comfort_.

It had been three days since I'd last seen her incredible confidence.

I heard and sensed and felt Naruto run up to me: God dammit, I could see him, but I wasn't listening to his broken record and he knew it. I think he knew of my curiosity. He didn't say it, but somehow he knew. He had always been smarter than I gave him credit for. He was like an elder brother to her, after all.

And it was he who led me to her in the first place.

I listened with half an ear to his rant, and I accepted his invitation to compete with the others in another barbaric game of nighttime paintball.

(_Because I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night._

_Neither would she, either.)_

Ino, I decided, would be questioned tomorrow.

* * *

耐久性

* * *

_can you stay strong?  
__can you go on?  
__kristy, are you doing okay?_

**_;;the offspring;;_**


End file.
